Through Hell Again and Back
by SheofCrayonhair
Summary: The events following Resident Evil Retribution, needless to say, spoilers guys. Alice/Claire.
1. Chapter 1

Death. It was a term Alice had become oh so familiar with, but then, so had every single person fighting to survive in this hell. Never before had it scared her as much as it did looking out over the carnage surrounding the ruined white house. The winged, insect-esq and completely disgusting creatures that flew over the battlefield seemed to be the only things having any luck getting through the fortress that the place had needed become. Perhaps there was hope still, they appeared to be dispatched easily enough. Supplies was going to be the biggest issue, as it often was.

"All right." Alice said breaking out of her thoughts "Lets go"

Ada nodded and they started the trek to the ground from their spot that looked down on what remained of the world. While Wesker had indeed succeeded in reinfecting her, his plans were set back by the fact her powers had started over at square one and put an unfortunate delay in his plans. While he had assured her their studies had conclusively pointed towards her immortality and general inability to be killed, he agreed with her that she needed time to retrain and improve her mental abilities. After a short rest on a cot in what was to be her room, shared by Becky, she had decided to get right to it. Her body had stopped mutating internally, and despite the ache she was actually happy to feel the power her body now contained. If she had to be a monster, better a monster with a purpose that was worth it. With time, she may just be able to get at least some people through this alive. Humanities final hope rested on her shoulders and there was no time to delay, despite Becky's protests. She smiled at the thought of the girl, genetically her's or not, she was her child. She had left her in the care of Jill, now trusting her old friend after seeing the pain in her eye's as she repeatedly appologized.

Ada had made a valid point to asses where exactly Alice's current capabilities were and advised against testing her regained powers out on the undead, instead starting simpler like she had when first attaining the telekinetic abilities she had once wielded as effectively as any other weapon.

"You do realize he will not be patient. You will be sent out on missions long before your powers are back up to their previous state."

"Great. More chance of pain and ruined attire then. All I need is guns and the control I had back."

"Control?" Ada asked curiously.

"When I first realized my abilities they were almost only ever effective when I was feeling strongly about something. The main fuel for this was anger, but it can be anything from fear to excitement. I need this control back in order to effectively use my abilities. I'm not sure this is something I have lost or if it is something that will come to me out of habit."

Ada seemed to understand and nodded "We can test your control and powers in general with sandbags, at least for now while we are working on a small scale."

Alice regarded the woman with distrust "So are you to be my handler then?"

"Albert has instructed me to keep an eye on you, yes. It is only because you are important and vital to our survival. If you wish to train on your own you may, I merely decided to come and observe because I was curious."

Alice shrugged and made her way to the area Wesker had designated to her training. There were several different sizes of sandbags piled off to one side, targets and weapon racks containing mostly thrown weapons. Nice, she smirked imagining a very deadly looking throwing knife being driven between Wesker's eyes by the full force of her powers. She grinned, and wonder if perhaps she could arrange to have a picture of him set up on the targets. Realizing she was being childish and not using the right motivation, she simply grabbed a reasonably small sandbag and placed it on the ground, it probably only weighed 20 pounds and she figured it was as good a place to start as any.

Focusing on the bag and trying to remember how exactly she had done this before, Alice made her first attempt. Nothing happened and she sighed. Her powers had been far passed this level and as such it was much easier to locate and call upon her abilities, now that power was a mere shadow of its former glory and she had to try to remember the basics.

She had told Ada that emotion had often dictated her powers early on, and so she conjoured up the image that had enraged her the most, it wasn't an image that she had used before, but it would work.

* * *

_Claire lie on the ground as Alice crouched beside her, securing her to the plane._

"_What did they do to you Claire? This is Umbrella's work, no doubt, but why?"_

_She finished tying up Claire and moved her attention to the strange, red bug-like device on her friend's chest. Obviously it was injecting a drug of some form, probably something she really did not want to know about. _

_Needless to say, it had to come off._

_Hoping the redhead stayed out of it till she had it off, she got a grip on the device and pulled. It came out rather easily, put left puncture wounds where it had been attached. Rage bubbled up inside her at the sight. Claire was bleeding, bleeding because of Umbrella. She was going to... Make. Them. Pay._

* * *

Alice felt the familiar rush as her powers surged to the surface. The sandbag rose steadily off the ground until it hung just slightly above Alice. Clinging to the rage she had felt in the pictured moment, she fought to hold it there. Power, endurance, speed and distance where the main elements of her abilities and for right now, endurance would be her focus. Power was great, until you overstepped your limits and put yourself into a mini coma whilst surrounded by enemies.

She managed to hold the sandbag in the air for about two minutes before it crashed to the ground and Alice staggered a bit. Allowing the throbbing in her head a few moments to calm, she let her thoughts do the same. It helped to relieve some of the pain and allowed her to prepare for another attempt.

_Alice was grinning at the smiling teen. K-mart was the only convoy member to make her feel welcome, and was currently going on about the convoy and it's various members. In another place and time, Alice would have truthfully said she was never one for gossip in any form, but K-mart had for some reason sucked her into the conversation._

"_Then there's John, he always brags about this time he shot a bear the size of the hummer that had come at him while he was out hunting deer one day. He's clearly lying, the man couldn't hit the bus, let alone an angry ten ton bear."_

_Alice chuckled as K-mart pointed him out to her and quickly stopped when he looked in their direction. Alice had to admit, he didn't look like much. Then again the few other survivors she had come across had said the same of her._

"_Entertaining our guest are you K?" Claire was approaching the two with a look of amusement on her face._

"_Hey Claire" K-mart said cheerfully "Just helping Alice get a grasp on who's who"_

"_And telling her all their worst qualities while you're at it as well, I'm sure" Claire said with a chuckle "It's impolite to gossip K"_

"_I won't be sticking around long enough to learn the names anyways K-mart."_

"_WHAT!?" K-mart looked completely shell shocked._

"_Relax K" Claire had said then turned to face the adult blonde"Alice, about what I said earlier. I did some thinking, and I talked to Carlos and L.J. They pretty much threatened to up and leave if you weren't allowed to stay and while they agreed my points were valid, they trust you. They also gave me a damned impressive list of all the bad-ass things you can do. So, you can stay as long as you like as long as you promise to contribute to the convoy in some way."_

_Alice grinned "I'm sure I can think of something"_

_Claire met her gaze "I'm sure you can"_

* * *

The ache she felt when she realized how much she missed her redheaded companion was more than just an ache. It was like a knife to her very soul. She had no idea where Claire was, or Kmart. No idea if either of them were still alive out there somewhere or if they had perished with the ship. What if they had been in the facility with her? Oh god. Why did she not try to investigate further and find out when she had the chance? She cringed, sorry Claire.

Sighing and calling up her rage again she lifted the sand bag once more, this time coming a bit easier to her.

(An: Can anyone else picture that last memory? Alice being all "Nah Claire says I have to go" and Calire, after realizing how bad ass Alice is (and how attractive xD) being all "Whoa whoa hold on a sec Kmart, I got dis. You're awesome, you can stay, I was wrong and you are useful enough...plz?"

:p lol I was tied and it was like.. idk 1am? I didnt go to bed till 4am the other night and then I got up before noon. I was over tired. No judging :p I'll fix it's shittasticness later.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Becky wanted to listen to her mom, She really did, but there was nothing to do. Jill had gotten called to go help with some kind of monster that had gotten into the facility, so she was alone. If she didn't keep distracted she started to try to understand all that had happened in the last little bit. It was scary and she wanted nothing more than to simply forget it had happened. The proof unfortunately was all around, the zombies clawing at the walls, the constant vibrations from the battlefield and the smell of burning and death were all pretty big reminders. The eight-and-a-half year old made up her mind and left the room that had been assigned to her and her mom. She was confident she could find her way back and her momma _had_ said she would be busy for quite awhile.

She may not be able to hear, but she could feel, and made a point of heading away from the more powerful vibrations, figuring she was less likely to run into something scary. She wandered the halls curiously, smiling at the soldiers lining the walls, occasionally getting a smile and offer of help in return. She would smile and refuse and carry on her way.

She was staring at a slightly tattered painting when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she jumped slightly and turned. The girl was older than her, a teenager. She was blonde and smiled down at her kindly, looking curious.

She said something but she spoke so quickly Becky missed it.

"Could you repeat that please?" She asked and signed at the same time.

"Oh, you're deaf?"

Becky read her lips and this time was able to understand, she nodded.

"Oh, well. My name's K-mart, I saw you standing here and thought you might be lost"

"No, I'm just exploring... But my mama will probably be back soon, I should probably go back to our room."

"yeah would want your mom to be mad, hey? I don't have a mom, well. Kind of... Anyways, can you find your way back?"

Becky looked around. "Umm.." She didn't recognize anything.

K-mart was laughing and then smiled at here "I can help you find your room if you like."

Becky nodded. She liked K-mart, she was pretty and seemed actually happy when she smiled. Everyone around here was so boring and sad all the time it seemed, K-mart wasn't like that and it made her feel better.

They trekked through the halls and Becky watched K-mart talk. She was very animated about what she spoke about and used her hands to express things, currently she was describing the woman who looked after her, Claire. She sounded like a nice person, and K-mart seemed to see her the same way she saw mommy.

They reached the room without incident and instantly Becky wished she had come back earlier, she saw Alice looking worried as she rushed over to her and scooped her up.

"Hi mama" She said wrapping her arms around her mother's neck.

"Don't _scare_ me like that" Alice said and sighed, before realizing the blonde teenager who had arrived with her daughter was very familiar.

"K-mart?"

"Alice?" K-mart said after picking her jaw up off the ground "Boy is Claire going to be glad to see you"

Alice just stared in shock and K-mart walked over and hugged her. Alice found herself automatically returning the hug slowly, still not believing. She eventually snapped out of her shock and basically bear hugged K-mart.

"Ow, ouch ouch ouch. I still need air Alice" K-mart said, wheezing slightly.

Alice chuckled "Oops, getting used to my strength again, K. How-"

"I'm not the one you should be asking Alice. C'mon lets go sit down for a minute and you can explain Becky here, and I can explain some other stuff"

Becky looked on in confusion. Momma knew K-mart? Claire too? Her face scrunched in confusion. There was still so much she didn't understand about this world. She loved her momma, even if it wasn't her real one, but there was just so much to try to understand. She had to remember that her mom did not have any of the memories from the house in suburbia, no memories of daddy, no birthdays. No anything up until she found her.

She pulled on Alice's arm and signed to her "You know K-mart"

Alice smiled and nodded then signed back "I know her very well. You cant trust her, Becky."

Becky nodded and looked off in thought.

* * *

Alice agreed to K-marts request and explained all that had happened to her since waking up in the umbrella testing facility.

"Why the hell -"

"K! Language." Alice scolded covering Becky's eyes.

"Sorry. You sound like Claire" she said and rolled her eyes "Why don't they just give up?"

"I have no idea. They are in the control of a homicidal AI so, I guess that could be part of it."

"Hmm, maybe yeah." K-mart agreed, then watched as Becky played with a doll someone had given to Alice for her. "She's pretty cute Alice... Claire won't care you know. She will love anything involving you."

"I know" Alice looked at her daughter and smiled "She's not genetically mine, but she's still mine. She has no one else, and I'm the exact same in appearance to her mother."

"That's still creepy." K-mart shook her head "Clones of you, I mean."

Alice shrugged. Yeah, it was, but weird as it was she had actually found the clones tended to develop their own personalities regardless. Even the ones who had assaulted Tokyo with her had formed shaky friendships with both her and among themselves. It was weird, but it was what it was. They were still people, regardless of their origins.

"So, i'm honestly surprised we are still sitting here" K-mart said "I thought you'd have taken off to find Claire the second you realized she was here."

"Okay, firstly, Claire is not the only one I missed K. I've been worrying about you since the convoy took off in the helicopter. Secondly, I wanted to explain things to Becky, but I should probably explain things to Claire first."

"But you can't just leave her unattended. I volunteer, Alice, I'll watch her for you. I have nothing better to do anyways, I'm still too young to be included in any of the fighting and no one has the time to teach me any first aid so I can tend to non infected injuries."

Alice smiled "Thanks K. Now, if you tell me where I'm headed I'll be on my way."

K-mart smirked "Down the hall about ten doors on the left."

Alice thanked her and got up to leave

"Don't let her tire you out Alice, I can't watch the kid forever."

Alice smirked and continued on her way, K-mart's prediction was way off anyways, She was more likely to get her ass kicked for leaving a second time.

* * *

Claire was having just a normal day. Well, as normal as one could have in an undead war-zone, where things like getting lifted ten feet off the ground by undead insect mutations and then nearly dropped into a fire were common occurrences. Claire sighed as she attempted to brush the dirt and soot off her uniform. She'd been given the same uniform as the other soldiers, but was restricted from fighting in the main points, she was assigned to patrolling the area between the white house and the camps. Even that had taken some heavy arguing with Wesker, along with threats of removing very sensitive parts of his body with her bare hands.

He had seemed mostly unaffected, but in what Claire assumed was just an attempt to shut her up he had agreed to assign her to a job.

It was never boring, but it was a mostly trivial task... at least it was most of the time. Shoot down the occasional flier that the helicopters missed, avoid getting blown up and try not to die. At least it gave her something to do, Wesker had attacked the helicopter that had been carrying Claire, Chris and K-mart and gotten them out. They had been the only survivors in the helicopter, Wesker had informed them they would have been taken to a facility separate from everyone else where they would have been used against Alice by the Red Queen.

Thankful as she was, she really fucking hated his guts. He just oozed untrustworthy, she could practically sense the evil radiating off him. But even he had the logic to realize they all needed to band together in order to survive.

She ignored the slight ache her impact with the ground had caused, she was pretty sure nothing was broken but there was going to be a few bruises. She was off duty in about ten minutes anyways and the other soldier's had either shot down or wounded the invading insects, plenty of time to get some rest and check on K-mart before she had to do everything all over again.

She retrieved the knife she had dropped upon impacting with the ground and wiped the infected blood off on a nearby sandbag before returning it to it's sheath, that was one flier that was not going to be bothering her again. The other person on watch had called to her to see if she was all right and she gave him a thumbs up, before continuing on.

Her replacement had arrived a few minutes early and Claire made her way back to the room she shared with K-mart and Chris, looking forwards to collapsing on her cot and a hopefully nightmare free sleep. She'd had some pretty bad ones as of late, and then suddenly the other night she had stopped having them. It was only one night, but it had been the only night where she had slept fully through her usual sleeping hours since Alice had been taken.

She made it to the fairly decently sized room, whoever used to live in this space was pretty high up on the food chain, and removed her boots. She was in the process of finding something actually half comfortable to change into when she finally noticed the brunette leaning casually against the wall.

She froze. No way, Wesker was supposed to tell her the minute she got back. Then again, this was Wesker she was talking about here. They stared at each other for what felt like hours, but she knew was probably less than a minute, before either of them said anything.

"Hey" Alice's voice was raspy and low.

"How long have you been here?"

"About four or five hours."

"Hours? And Wesker didn't tell me. Bastard" She muttered

Alice grinned and started towards her "He didn't tell me you were here, which is probably good or nothing productive, well in his eyes at least, would have happened yet."

"Doesn't change the fact that he's a bastard." Claire said as Alice came to stand in front of her. She looked at her and noticed the slight aura she gave off and knew she was infected again. "Even doubly so if he was responsible for reinfecting you."

Alice blinked "How did you know?"

Claire grinned "when you spend as much time in your presence as I have, especially in the situations I have, you pick up on the smallest of things. Your powers radiate from you. I only realized what it was after being around you without them."

She saw Alice look concerned for a moment and Claire knew exactly what track her mind was going down. The 'I'm some kind of terrible abomination and need to be destroyed' track. "You're not a monster, Alice."

Alice sighed "No." She looked up at Claire and grinned "I don't think monsters miss anything and Claire? I missed you."

Claire smiled and pulled Alice forwards till their lips were millimeters apart. "I missed you too" and closed the remaining distance.

* * *

An: Possibly a weird spot to leave off, but if I keep going this will be another 30 page chapter, like that one Underworld fic I was writing -.- then my laptop deleted everything.

Anyways, Read, review and pray I can actually finish something, and finish it before the second semester of school starts and I have to give the school it's laptop back. If things are a little weird it's because I'm really not used to being able to get my thoughts out as fast as I am and therefore most of them are not as thought out or literate as they should be. I apologize and will improve in the future... Hopefully.


End file.
